Much More Than a Lifetime
by Loopy777
Summary: Aang is forcibly sent to the Eastern Air Temple to continue his Avatar training, and makes a special friend.
1. Much More Than a Lifetime

_Lavanya Six provided the prompt: "AU where Aang doesn't run away, gets sent to the Eastern Air Temple as planned, but befriends an AirNomad!Mai. [If you want to get kooky, make her a past reincarnation of canon!Mai.]"_

* * *

**Much More Than a Lifetime**

They wouldn't even let Gyatso drop him off at the Eastern Air Temple.

At least it wasn't cranky old Tashi. High Monk Pasang himself saddled up his Sky Bison and flew alongside Appa for the whole journey. He didn't speak much, but every so often he would look over at the younger Air Nomad, and offer an encouraging smile.

It didn't make Aang feel any better. He was still the Avatar, and still leaving his home and mentor.

Pasang handled the introductions when they arrived at the Eastern Temple. Mother Iio met them, and to Aang's eyes, she hadn't aged a day since she led him and the other young monks to choose their Sky Bison companions. Unfortunately, the memory brought to mind all the friends Aang had left behind, and the isolation that had fallen upon him even before leaving. He barely listened as Pasang explained why 'the young Avatar' had to be removed from Gyatso's care, the High Monk stressing the perceived need for 'discipline and more training' in Aang's life.

Iio looked to Aang at that point, but if she wanted a reaction, she was disappointed. Gyatso had warned Aang to be carried gracefully by their defeat, as befits a true Airbending Master, lest they be broken by the winds of change. So Aang clamped down on his emotions, and tried to ignore the small burning sensation in the center of his chest, a tiny and persistent pain that made him feel off balance for the first time since he learned how to walk.

Iio requested the chance to personally welcome Aang to his new home, and Pasang smilingly acceded and went off to find friends and food. Iio talked for a bit, mentioning that while his training regime would satisfy the demands of his role, there would be plenty of time and opportunity for more enriching experiences, liking helping in the Bison nurseries, or working with younger benders like his 'friend' (more like enamored acquaintance, in Aang's opinion) Malu.

Through it all, Aang paid attention, and responded politely.

Finally, Iio let him go to choose a cell in the Masters' Temple to be his personal living quarters. Aang resisted the urge to run.

On the way, he passed through the temple gardens; they were empty at this time of day, with the students practicing their gliding while the Masters observed and safeguarded them. It wasn't until Aang was standing directly over her that he realized the lone girl in the central garden wasn't a statue.

She could have been carved, she was so still. Her robes and hair were darker than the norm, and her skin lighter, almost like the colors on the temple murals. Aang waited and counted; she only took three breaths in a minute.

He jumped ten feet when she finally spoke. "I'm trying to find my center."

"Oh," Aang coughed, when he landed. "Sorry. I was just... uh, checking."

She breathed three more times. "For what?"

"Well, that you were... _alive_."

Six breaths. "Good work. You win."

Twenty-seven breaths later, Aang left.

* * *

Her name was Foumei. Little Malu (now an inch taller than Aang, despite being a year younger) was eager to tell the story. "She came from the Western Air Temple, a few weeks ago. She's almost ready for her arrow, but she's working on her Personal Technique."

Aang's eyebrows rose. "She's trying to think of one?"

Malu shook her head, and leaned close to whisper in Aang's ear. Her warm breath tickled. "She knows, but she's working on getting it _right_, and she won't tell anyone or let any of us see it. That's why she hides in the garden."

Aang thought about his own Personal Technique, the new use of Airbending that had earned him both his status as Master and his blue arrow tattoos: the Air Scooter was a swirling ball of wind, atop which Aang could balance, and use slight shifting of his weight to move it in any direction. The speed of the spinning air made the ball race around like it was on wheels, and was _loads_of fun to play with.

Aang hadn't used it since he left the Southern Air Temple.

Plans began forming in his bald head.

* * *

Aang was hidden in the central garden before the sun had even begun rising. He had prepared for a long stakeout by bringing a bag of nuts, some fruit, and a sliding-tile puzzle (the one Jinju had made for him as a going-away present). Fortunately, Foumei had shown up shortly after dawn. _Un_fortunately, she seemed content to just sit down and blow a leaf around with small gusts summoned by lazy finger wiggles.

For.

Five.

Hours.

Aang was seriously considering abandoning the watch and going to see if Malu wanted to have a Bison race when his stomach let out a growl. (The fruits and nuts had disappeared fairly early.) The Avatar froze in place, and then slowly began inching back into the foliage.

"You might as well come out. I knew you were there when I arrived."

"Awwww," Aang whined as he stood up. "How did you know?"

"I look at things." Foumei continued playing with her leaf, following it intently with her eyes, and seemingly not paying any attention to the Avatar. "Most people just let their eyes breeze over their surroundings, but I look at the details. The way the flowers droop, the way the leaves both idle and dance. And I've spent practically every waking moment of the last two weeks in this stupid garden."

Aang walked over and sat down beside the girl. He watched the leaf, noting that she wouldn't let it ever come to a rest. "Well, if you have to spend a lot of time here, at least it's a nice garden."

"It's too colorful," Foumei pronounced. "Back in the Western Air Temple, we don't let things go crazy. Green ivy, and that's it."

"But the way you say it, you don't sound like you miss it."

Foumei gave a light snort. "Ivy is _boring_."

Aang found himself laughing a little. "You're one of those people who love being unhappy, aren't you?"

The small breezes died, and the leaf fluttered straight to the ground. Foumei turned her full gaze towards the boy. "I don't remember inviting you here."

Aang suppressed a lemur-like instinct to bolt. "Sorry. Maybe I can... help you... with your technique?"

The girl snorted again and turned away. "What, you don't like the way I bend?"

"No, it's fine. You were good with that game you were playing with the leaf. But I'm a _master_." He pointed helpfully at the big blue arrow on his bald head. "Maybe I can give you a few pointers, and help you with ideas for your Personal Technique. That's why you came here, right?"

Foumei didn't say anything at first. She delicately picked her leaf up between two fingers of her right hand, and laid it flat in the palm of her left. She exhaled a light, focused breeze, and the leaf began dancing in the air again. Aang noticed that it stayed, for the most part, flat in the air, spinning around as it sliced the air in a loose orbit around Foumei's head. When she finally replied, her voice was even quieter than usual. "So, why did _you_come here? Got your arrow and thought you'd show it off to a temple-full of girls? Or did your lack of discipline cause some trouble back home?"

Aang was gone in an instant, as quick and graceful as a lemur.

* * *

That afternoon, Mother Iio started Aang with his training regime. She chose a younger Master, Lavanya, to directly monitor and spar with him, but kept an eye on his hours and progress. Aang was pretty sure she was keeping the Southern Air Temple updated with letters. There was an upside to that, though. As time went on and Aang settled into life at the Eastern Air Temple, letters began arriving regularly from Gyatso. All of them contained the monk's assurances that they would both be all right, that Gyatso would be over to visit as soon as he could, and that the Council of Elders had found the precipitation lately to be both frequent and fruity.

Iio was stern about his schedule, but still nice, and she was already talking about letting Aang take a trip to the nearby Earth Kingdom lands for some exploration. Lavanya was fun, an advanced bender with lots of neat ideas for new Airbending moves; the only problem was that she seemed to get nervous anytime the subject of Aang being 'The Avatar' (you could hear her pronounce the capital letters) came up.

Through it all, Foumei continued to hide in the garden.

* * *

Aang decided that Chameleon Bay, just downriver from Ba Sing Se, sounded like a good place for a trip. Some of the other young Airbenders came along, with Lavanya to guide them. Word had gotten around quickly about Aang being the Avatar, and that, combined with most of the Temple's unfamiliarity with the boy, had effectively put up a social barrier around him. Malu still tried to be his friend, but Aang had his training taking up most of his days, and she had studies of her own. However, with nothing to do at Chameleon Bay but have fun, Aang and the younger girl had teamed up to see what kind of sea monsters they could scare up.

"You think this is a tooth?" Aang held the object up above the water line.

Malu squinted at it. "It looks like a rock."

"But it's sharp!"

She shrugged. "Then it's a sharp rock."

Aang couldn't quite bring himself to agree, so he tucked the tooth into his tightshorts to take back the temple.

Malu took a breath in preparation for another dive, but then she must have changed her mind, because she turned back to Aang and used the breath to triple her normal volume. "OHHEYDIDITELLYOUABOUTFOUMEI?"

"...what?"

"Foumei! I heard something new!"

"Oh. Uh, well, what is it?"

Malu paddled in a little circle to see if anyone was nearby, then apparently satisfied, pushed herself closer to Aang. "She got a delivery the other day. Omoni stopped by Ba Sing Se, and a merchant there asked her to deliver a package to Foumei. It was a leather case with a lock on it."

Despite himself, Aang felt his intrigue rise. "What was in it?"

Malu grinned, and grabbed Aang's arm. She pulled herself even closer, so that they were bobbing as one on the clear blue waters. "Omoni didn't open it herself, but Foumei did as soon as she got it. I was stalking a lemur high on top of the Yangchen statue, and caught a view.

"It was filled with little thin blades. _Hundreds_of them."

* * *

When Aang summoned up the courage to approach Foumei again, days later, he found her keeping a dozen different leaves swirling in the air around her. They looked like little shadows in the dimming atmosphere, as the sun sunk below the horizon. That's when it all came together. "You're going to try to earn your arrow with a _knife storm_?"

Her glare was even sharper than the image invoked by Aang's accusation. As the leaves fell dead around her, she responded with a growl. "And how is that any of your business, Oh Great And Powerful Avatar? Does my Airbending pose a threat to World Balance?"

He wanted to run again, but couldn't quite let the matter go. "I may be the Avatar, but I'm still just a simple monk. I don't even _know_ anything besides Airbending." He gazed at this harsh young woman, and wondered what made her so different from her people. Didn't she want to fit in? "I don't even know _what_the Elders would say when you showed them that kind of thing. Something like that is just all about hurting people."

She shrugged. "Sometimes, you have to. So long as you respect the life you take, it's no dishonor. Avatar Yangchen didn't shy away from that kind of thing."

Really? "Even if that's true, I don't see why you would want your Personal Technique to be something violent. Monk Gyatso told me that the Technique should be an expression of yourself."

She arched an eyebrow.

He rolled his eyes and waved his concession of the point.

She nodded. "It's not just that. You don't know what it's like, back home. At the Western Air Temple. In the _Fire Nation_." Foumei pointed, and a lone leaf ascended in front of her. "My father is a minor Noble in the Fire Nation. He agreed, when I was born, that I could be taken by my mother to be raised as an Air Nomad. While I was still deciding on my Personal Technique, I went to visit him and his family, to see what their life was like."

Foumei stopped there, but tried several times to continue, never quite managing to make a sound. Aang waited a while for her to continue.

Finally, she sighed, settled back into a meditative state, and said, "I'm not doing anything the Elders wouldn't understand. They're doing it with _you_."

"The Elders... ?"

"You're their weapon, Avatar Aang. They see the same thing I saw when I explored the Fire Nation. War is coming, and if we're going to survive what they're preparing for the Earth Kingdom, the Water Tribes, and _us_, we need to know how to call a storm down on them. _My_storm will keep me alive."

Aang didn't feel the tears in his eyes until they spilled down his face. Even with the element of Air on his side, it took an effort to summon a breath. "I... _your_ weapons don't know when to _stop_."

Foumei shrugged. "If I have time, I can work on it."

* * *

Iio and Lavanya both noticed that Aang's training took a bad turn. His progress came to a halt, and at times, he even had trouble concentrating enough to perform moves he had long ago mastered. First, they reduced the amount of time that he was allowed to train, in hopes that a little rest would bring him out of it. When that failed, they devoted his every waking hour to practice.

Malu left with her own Master to bring a herd of Sky Bison up to the Northern Air Temple. She still hadn't returned when the Comet dimmed the sky.

* * *

Aang had never been so angry in his whole life, even when he found out that the Elders were going to take Gyatso away from him. For the first time since the trip to Chameleon Bay, Aang was able to casually summon gale winds with enough power to destroy stone.

He held back a little when he struck directly at the Firebenders, compared to when he deflected and overpowered their extreme Firebending.

Even so, it still felt like something was blocking him from his true strength, and there were just too many of the enemy. Aang couldn't fight them all. He couldn't even save the other Nomads. For all that the Earth failed to hold them, only the most enlightened Masters were without attachment, and the most common was easily their love for their home. In not immediately fleeing the Temple, all the Airbenders doomed themselves. Aang witnessed young girls and old women all die. He saw ancient Sky Bison slowly and painfully fade, and their calves disappear in a single flicker of fame.

The Avatar knocked Firebenders around like toys, and brought dragons slamming to the ground.

He didn't find Appa until it was too late.

Appa, along with several other Sky Bison, had fled to the stables where they had teethed as infants. The stable was older than memory, made from thick stone that merely blackened in even the hottest fires. There was no sky to escape into, just scattered openings that were being systematically collapsed with explosives beyond Aang's comprehension.

And so by the time he found Appa (healthy but scared), he had no idea how to escape. Firebenders had followed him through the hallways, and were no searching the darkened stables.

That's when he found Foumei. Despite the death and chaos, she was meditating atop Appa. Her form was tinted by the red light of the comet, dark orange robes looking black in the dimness, her face deathly slack. "Avatar. Finally. You need to go."

He shook his head, teeth clenched. "The Sunrise Landing is blocked-"

"You're the Avatar. Bend the stone."

"I can't-"

"Yes. You can." She turned to gaze deeper into the stables, which echoed with the sounds of boots in rapid motion. "If I can teach myself how to kill, you can teach yourself how to throw a rock."

"Foumei," he tried to say, but there was a hitch in his voice, strangling the sound. It came out sounding more like, "...mai..."

She rolled up her wide sleeves, revealing a grid of leather thongs wrapped around her arms. Tucked beneath the lashings were a plethora of tiny, thin razor blades. She smirked at him. "This is what I've been studying for. This is how I balance my side of the world. Don't you think you should take care of yours? And Appa?"

It was strange. Before, the most painful decision of his life was when he chose not to run away from his destiny and let himself be taken away from Gyatso and exiled here to the Eastern Temple. Now, he was being encouraged to run away, on this, what might very well _be_ the day of his destiny, by someone who was more like an _anti_-mentor! The worst part of it was that he wanted very much to run away, even though he knew it would eventually hurt worse than losing Gyatso.

Gyatso. What was happening at the Southern Temple?

Foumei's eyes looked into his own with a kindness he hadn't realized lived within her. "Aang, please, make sure our bending, our people, survive. I can't; it's not something I'm capable of. But I can't think of anyone who would be more worthy than you."

He hugged her, tightly, and she kissed his arrow. Then they came apart, and dashed in opposite directions. Aang tried his best to bend the rocks keeping him from the skies, but the element easily resisted him. The screams, deep male voices coming from the direction that Foumei had gone in, didn't help his concentration.

Then there was the rushing sound of extended Firebending, and silence followed. It was the silence of the garden, the silence of a leaf on the lightest breeze, the silence of an odd Airbender girl who only needed to breathe three times a minute when she meditated.

Inside, the barriers fell.

Four breaths later, the Firebenders arrived at the Sunrise Landing, and found only a hole and an empty sky.

**END**


	2. Much Less Than a Lifetime

**Much Less Than a Lifetime**

**1**

She had always pegged other girls as whiners. After all, how bad could it be? However, when Mai- at wise old age of seventeen- experienced her first creepy stare from an older man, she was so disconcerted that she completely forgot to brandish a knife at him.

That it was the Avatar just made it worse.

It was the fiftieth anniversary of the Great Reconciliation, and the first time Mai was attending a big social event as Prince Zuko's betrothed. Granted, she had already made the rounds of High Society in two nations, and had been romantically involved (so politely phrased) with Zuko for years before, but for some reason the existence of a signed and witnessed paper legalizing their intention to marry changed everything. Now, she had to wear a gold Tiara of Claim in public, and the fact that she wouldn't don those awful shoulder pads was suddenly controversial. (At least she no longer had to call Azula and Zuko by their titles, even in public.) Also, a new level of boring parties was not only available to her, but _expected_of her, including the Avatar's little celebration over some war he stopped forever ago.

He was _old_, over a century if that wasn't propaganda, but he moved even easier and more gracefully than Fire Lord Iroh. Ashes, he could teach _Ty Lee_a thing or two about balance and poise. Too bad he completely ruined it by being a creeper.

When it was Zuko's turn to greet the Avatar, the Last Airbender had all but ignored the Fire Prince, staring at Mai the whole time like he had seen a ghost. Throughout the party, he kept stealing glances at her, never so much as softening the rudeness with a smile.

Still it was a big party, and anyone with Mai's observation and stalking skills would have had an easy time avoiding the only man in bright orange robes in the entire world.

It was totally unfair when he ambushed her on one of the balconies. She just wanted a moment away from the bustling crowds, and he had to sneak up on her like Azula in a bad mood. "Hiya! I'm Aang."

"Yes," she allowed. "We met."

He nodded happily, and she wondered exactly what he thought she was agreeing with. "What's your name?"

She considered giving him Azula's name, but decided that it was too risky. "Mai."

"Mei?"

"No. _Mai_."

"Ah, got it. It's very pretty. Good for a very pretty girl."

Mai just raised an eyebrow at that. Master of all the elements he might be, but in her experienced opinion, he was an amateur at empty flattery. "Yes, that's what my fiance says. Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation."

The Avatar smiled at that. "Ah, he's a good lad. You know, I'm the reincarnation of his great-grandfather. On his mother's side."

"How interesting." Her voice was flatter than the side of her sharpest blade.

"So, uh, where's your family from?" He stroked his long, busy mustache idly, but she could see the sharp interest in his eyes. Creeper.

"Oh, the capital," she said, keeping her voice artificially light. "My line has been full of social climbers for a few generations now, and the Capital is where all the power is. You know how politics are, these days. The distance between a loyal island and a lawless wasteland in unofficial rebellion is sometimes little more than a shallow bay."

Of course he knew. The Avatar's two biggest time-sinks were the rebellious outer islands and the occasional warlord in the Earth Kingdom. "I see. I thought you might have relations near the Western Air Temple. You remind me of someone I once knew."

She felt her face move involuntarily for the first time all night, forming an expression of disgust at what she was hearing. "I hope you're not implying that there's some foreign illegitimacy in my line. I personally wouldn't care, but rumors like that could hurt Zuko's reputation, and I won't allow that. He has it hard enough as it is."

The Avatar took a step back. Beneath his drooping mustache, a profound frown pulled his face down, and he hunched his shoulders to ruin his perfect posture. What a dramatic old coot. "My apologies. I didn't mean to offend. I wish you good winds." He bowed and hurried away.

Mai kept her wrist-launchers loaded for the rest of the party.

* * *

**2**

It wasn't until after he brought the scaffolding down that his brain registered exactly what his eyes had seen.

It couldn't be her; even if she had survived that day, it had been a hundred years since then. What were the odds of _two_Airbenders getting stuck in icebergs and sleeping for exactly a century while a war raged across the world? And why would she be chasing him and Katara, anyway? The confusion gave way to a moment of panic as he realized that he might have just brought down a couple hundred pounds of construction material on the head of a girl who gave her life for him. Or tried to. Or something.

He was so worried that he nearly missed the razor disc flying at his face.

Saying he just _barely_dodged might be exaggerating things. When Katara got a good look at his face, after the Earthbender resistance had rescued them, she looked a little freaked by all the blood coming out of the cut.

"Yeah, we know her."

"Great!" Aang couldn't keep a smile from blossoming on his face. "Who is she?"

The Earthbender rebel scratched his long beard. "She's attached to the Governor's family, probably his daughter. She doesn't leave the house except to escort the Governor's wife and baby, doesn't socialize with any of the other occupiers, doesn't seem to have any official capacity in the administration. Could be a hired bodyguard, I suppose, but if so, she really messed up letting that baby wonder off with us." He motioned to where Katara was sleeping with the 'kidnapped' toddler in her arms. "Besides, the girl looks kind of young to be a mercenary on her own."

Aang let himself slump where he was sitting. "So, you don't really know much."

"Not really. What we _do_know is how deadly she is."

"_Deadly._"

"Oh, don't get me wrong, we haven't engaged her directly. We're smarter than that." The Earthbender sighed. "The way she fights, I'd consider hiring her, even if she is Fire Nation. She moves like a warrior or assassin, and fights like I've never seen before. Somewhere in all those robes is a supply of weapons that would put the whole Omashu Guard to shame, and no one we've debriefed has yet seen her maximum range. No matter where the target is, if she can see it, she can _hit it_. I wouldn't be surprised if she's some kind of Blade Spirit pretending to be a human."

Aang let that image play through his mind. "Has she every used, like, a whole bunch at once? Like a lot of leaves fluttering around?"

The Earthbender stopped to consider it. "Not that I've heard. She throws those blades faster than people can see, but she's never needed more than a few."

"Hm."

Dawn was still a few hours off, but Aang was starting to look forward to it. They would exchange the Governor's baby for King Bumi, and maybe Aang would get to talk to the girl, find out what her story was. She'd probably be grateful that he was bringing her brother back, and then she'd tell him something about where she came from. The Avatar had a good feeling.

*.

Well, fighting was kind of like talking.

*.

Only the baby's parents were home when Aang brought him back. Had she left with the Firebender?

Okay, only one thing left to do, then.

*.

Right, two things, including not seeing her again for a while (except for that vision in the Swamp of Toph and Foumei running from him, but the Earthbender claimed she didn't know anything about Air Nomads or the reincarnation, so that was unreliable).

He didn't catch up with her until the group left Gaoling's province, after that long night of chasing.

Aang didn't have a chance to approach (read: sneak up) on her until after the big battle. The Avatar, his friends, and even his former enemy Zuko had all united to defeat Princess Azula, who fled to meet up with her lackeys. Aang really wanted to get some sleep after a full twenty-four hours of running away, but he couldn't let the opportunity go to waste. He followed the same path that Sokka and Katara had taken to the battle site, heading towards the river where they had fought Foumei's reincarnation (and the pink one). He had to be careful, lest Azula catch on and renew their fight, this time without any heroic backup arriving to save Aang's life.

He waited until the sun went down, and then infiltrated the Fire Nation encampment. Hers was the black tent, of course.

She wasn't asleep, thankfully. That just would have been awkward. She was reclining on her cot, sharpening some of her blades by candlelight. It would have been nice if she didn't have deadly weapons on hand for this, but as Sokka was always saying, best case scenarios were a myth. "Hi. Can we talk?"

She was quick, razor discs ready in each hand before he even finished talking. Aang raised his own hands above his head, palms open. "Wait! I just want to talk! Please don't!"

She just glared at him, and said, "Surrender."

Aang kept his arms up. "I wanted to talk to you. Peacefully! Just a quick conversation." Before she could object, he continued, "You remind me of a friend I had who died. Are there any Airbenders in your family?"

"Airbenders? Aren't they- you- uh..."

"My friend died a long time ago." The memories of Foumei were vivid, and matched this girl's face and spirit so well. "I thought maybe you were related. Or her reincarnation."

She kept her weapons out. "I don't have the foggiest idea what you're talking about. And I don't believe in reincarnation. Kneel down on the floor, and don't lower those hands. I _will_hurt you."

Aang knelt slowly. "Do you think _we_could have been friends? Like me and Foumei? That was her name."

She blinked. "My name is Mai."

"Nice to meet you. So what do you think? If there was no war, could you and me have been like me and her?"

A small smirk tugged at her face. "Wouldn't be the first flighty, dippy, superstitious friend in my life."

"Great!" Aang grinned. "Once I end the war, we can get to know each other!"

"Once you-"

Aang sprang up and kicked out a hurricane. By the time Mai extricated herself from the collapsed tent, Aang was away into the night, looking forward to a long, peaceful sleep. After all, he had a lot of work ahead of him.

* * *

**3**

Wow. Dormant volcanoes were a lot more interesting than she had expected. Who knew that there were bald little boys hiding inside them?

Mai and her family had just finished the first leg of their journey to the Earth Kingdom, still in Fire Nation waters. They had made their own travel arrangements to the military base on Halfway Island, where they would board a _Subjugator_-class navy warship for their Glorious Journey to Conquest. Father was in charge of the scheduled Siege of Omashu, and if it succeeded, he would be made Fire Nation governor of the city. His family, of course, would live with him there.

There was no word of what would happen if the siege _didn't_succeed, to either Father or his family.

All of that, however, was in the future, and Mai didn't worry much about the future. She was more concerned with the immediate problem- finding something to do while mother oversaw the loading of all their luggage and paraphernalia into the warship. Whether they would have room for their any of the ship's crew was an open question. So Mai went ashore, bypassing the military base (soldiers were boring, Mai had seen hundreds already throughout her life) and walking to the dormant volcano in the center of the small island. Granted, she had been born and lived in the dead volcano that had housed the Capital City, but that one had been sleeping for eons. According to her reading, the volcano on Halfway had been active within the last century, and maybe it would rumble for her.

Oh, it rumbled all right.

Now Mai had to deal with the young, bald, teenage boy who had been glowing inside the hollow ball of cooled lava rock until it broke apart in all the shaking. She thought about poking him with a knife, but decided all the interesting weirdness was worthy a little mercy. So she kicked him in the kidney with her heavy boot. (She didn't hit him _too_hard.)

"Awwwuggghhhhhhh," he said.

Mai kicked him again.

"Ow. Please. Please stop that."

"Whatever." The boy began trying to open his eyes, so Mai leaned over to see them. He didn't look Fire Nation, and she wondered what color was hiding behind his thin lashes.

"Okay," he said, a little stronger. "I think I'm okay. Where am- _**Foumei?**_"

She blinked at that. "What the ash?"

"Foumei!" His grin was huge, and he scrambled to his feet with alarming speed. "I can't believe you're alive!"

Before he could move towards her, as was obviously his intention, the blades were out. She brandished two razor discs in each hand. "Touch me and I swear you'll die."

He stopped, thankfully. Then he stared at her. He squinted for a moment, then went back to plain staring. "Are you Foumei?"

"Why do you keep saying my name like that? It's Mai."

"Mei?"

"Mai."

"You don't know a Foumei?"

"I don't even know what a Foumei is."

"She's my friend."

"My sympathies to her."

The boy sat down suddenly, hugging his knees to his chest. "I need a second to think."

He took more than a second, giving Mai the opportunity to really look at him. His eyes were gray, his clothes were yellow (yuck) and orange, and he had blue arrow tattoos on his bald head. Mai had been a good student, particularly in the dry, implausible history lessons, and once she put her mind to it, it wasn't hard to figure him out. "Are you an Airbender?"

"Yeah." The way he said it, he knew he was the last.

He- introduced as 'Aang'- explained that he had escaped Sozin's purge, and among the fallen was his friend Foumei. As Aang described her, Mai was reminded that her own family had originally come from the same island that hosted the Western Air Nomad Temple; the clan's patriarch at the time had moved them all to the Capital after Sozin began his reign, but before the Comet. She didn't tell Aang about that, though. The boy continued to describe how lost he was after the Comet, and how he had eventually decided to go after the Fire Lord himself, only to get caught in a storm centered on an erupting volcano. "We went down... wait."

He dashed back over to the lava rocks that had trapped him, calling a word that Mai didn't recognize.

Turns out that the kid owned a flying Sky Bison. Named Appa. Good thing Mai was an expert at dodging. Volcanic rock dust was apparently havoc on a Bison's sinuses.

"Yeah," Aang replied. "That was a pretty big sneeze, even for Appa. I wonder how long he was holding that in."

Mai hesitated, and then decided to take the plunge. "About a hundred years, by my count."

Aang's jaw dropped.

Mai nodded.

She filled him in on everything, the war with the Earth Kingdom, the Raids on the Water Tribes (and the rarely mentioned stalemate with the North), and the rapidly growing colonization efforts. His skin grew paler and his eyes grew deader as she talked. It was shaping up to be a pretty depressing conversation, even for Mai. Hearing about all this stuff was one thing, but seeing someone actually negatively affected by it was a new experience. Mai didn't consider it a pleasant one.

When Aang finally spoke again, he sounded at the point of tears. "I messed this up _so_bad."

Mai frantically tried to think of something graceful to say. "It's not your fault."

"Then _whose fault is it?_" he spat.

Mai hated being criticized. "I don't know! The _charred_ Fire Lord! Go take it out on _him!_" Oops, that was probably treason.

Aang blinked. "Are you serious?"

Mai thought about it. "I wouldn't lose any sleep if that bully fell in a ditch and died, no. But don't actually go fight him. You'll lose. And it will end awfully. Trust me on that." She didn't think about Zuko at that point, at all. Really.

He looked out, away from the volcano. A cloud passed briefly over the sun. "What if- what if I were a real Avatar when I faced him?"

"A real Avatar?"

"I need to learn Water, Earth, and Fire. And I could use some lessons on all the other Avatar stuff I've heard about."

Mai resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "This... isn't the start of some wacky, epic quest that will take you all over the world, is it? Having adventures and growing until you're ready to beat up the bad guys in some audience-pleasing spectacle?"

"...maybe?"

Mai snorted, and began walking back to civilization. "Yeah, good luck with that."

"Want to come?"

She stopped in her tracks. "What?"

"I wouldn't mind the company. Appa, either, right buddy?" The bison actually mooed or groaned or whatever on command.

"My mother," Mai bit out, "probably wouldn't approve of my running off with a strange Enemy of the State."

"Your mother?"

"Yeah, we're on our way to..." Slowly, powerfully, Mai got an idea. "To conquer Omashu, actually."

"What? But I have friends in-"

"Meet you there?"

"...what?"

Mai felt a smirk bring life to her face. "It will take us a while, though. First, you should find the 'Hottest Show in the World' circus in the Earth Kingdom. My friend Ty Lee works there. You'll like her. Tell her I sent you, and I'll meet you both in Omashu. We'll figure out how to save the city, then make you an Avatar, then beat up Fire Lord Ozai." By the end of her explanation, Mai was actually smiling- a small one- at the idea.

"But... your family... the Fire Nation... why?"

She didn't even think about thinking of Zuko. "What would your friend Foumei do?"

"But-"

"I'll explain it some time. It's a long, boring story. See you later."

It was with a spring in her step that Mai returned to her mother and the ugly ship that would take them to barbaric lands. It might not be such a life-ruining disaster after all. Well, lives would probably be ruined, but Mai's would at least be a lot more interesting, and she might even be able to reconnect with two of the only real friends she ever had.

As the ship left the port, Mai spotted a tiny cloud moving swiftly against the wind.

**END**


End file.
